Job Discussion Forums

dove · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Posts: 271 Location: USA/Japan

On a recent thread about NOVA vs Japan, someone wrote that an AEON teacher died of organ failure because of pressure not to call in sick. If this is true, I am sincerely sorry for that teacher and his loved ones. BUT I have to wonder why a teacher who was obviously sick would let himself (or herself)be pressured to NOT call in sick. Now I know that many Japanese workers do not call in sick and do not use the vacation days alloted to them. Fine. That is their choice and it is a choice made by inherent pressure to perservere, to give one`s all to the company. I also know that when one chooses to live in another country one should attempt to adapt to the ways of the new country. But come on! I will take off my shoes, I will bring omiyage back to the office, I will bow up a storm. But give up my personal days? No way.
This leads to my question. Just how much do you adapt to the host country? Do you give up who you are just to fit in, to make a good impression? Have you ever seen Westerners who try so hard to "be" Japanese? Does it look fake to you? Would you sacrifice your personal days just to look good in the eyes of your Japanese co-workers? I keep thinking of that expression "That and a token will get you on the subway".

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

Hmm I took a day off sick last week, while the school weren't too enthusiastic about it, I didn't make the decision lightly, so they had to live with it. Perhaps the strongest criticism they had was that I left it quite late to call in sick, but then as I said I didn't make the decision quickly or lightly.

As for "fitting in" well I think it depends on the person and what they're ambitions are. I have spent most of my adult life living in a foreign culture, I've gone through various stages, doing everything to 'fit if', rebelling and doing things 'my way' and the degrees in between. In the end I have come to a comfortable balance where I try to ruffle as few feathers as possible, and put people around me at ease. But at the same time I let them get used to me and how I do things because in the end they also have to adapt to how we percive things, especially if the want to sucessfully exploit our potential.
I think a lot has to do with how secure a person is about their own 'identity' a person not so secure is liable to be more inflexible for fear of 'losing' themselves whereas a person with a strong sense of identity is more able to give concessions without feeling threatened.
Am I making any sense.

SEndrigo · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 437

Yes indeed, that's a terrible story about the teacher dying!

I say you shouldn't be concerned with trying to fit in, anyway these people will never accept you as an equal.

If you're sick, you should call in sick. This is the right thing to do. One's health and longevity is more important than what one's workaholic boss thinks.

So there will be no one to teach the class....tough luck, that's life. People get sick, so there should be better laws to protect people who get sick.

Paul's right, you aren't expected to follow some customs because you're a foreigner, but if you see something unreasonable (i.e. people expecting you to turn up to work when you're sick) then you are under no obligation to follow that.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

SEndrigo · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 437

Too right, but wearing a mask doesn't guarantee that others won't get infected. The only guarantee is staying home!

I think the wearing of a mask is selfish when one is sick, as you can still infect others. Not to mention one's performance at work is diminished with a 40 degree fever.

I have had students attend class with flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, etc) and I just shake my head wondering if salarymen do that as well...they probably do!

Time off never hurt anyone! It doesn't even hurt the company's profits, since someone else will step up and work inhuman hours. Smile

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

yamanote senbei · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 435

Zzonkmiles · Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 309

[quote="yamanote senbei"]
Paulh, there is nothing to prevent an enlightened company from providing paid sick days in addition to paid vacation days. Many companies do.[/quote]

There is such a high probability of "sick" days being abused, it doesn't surprise me that eikaiwas generally don't offer them. I am fortunate that my school offers paid sick days, but I have to show them a doctor's note.

yamanote senbei · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 435

Doctor's notes are very easy and inexpensive to obtain when you are enrolled in Employee Health Insurance. Most eikaiwas don't offer it. There's probably a link between proper insurance coverage and enlightened sick leave policy.

freddie's friend daniel · Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 84 Location: Osaka-fu

I know this isn't a popular view to have but I'm not a big fan of paid sick days. Maybe that's because I'm not sick often! I worked before at a junior high school with one other foreign teacher. This colleague was a lovely woman and a great teacher but was a bit of a hypochondriac. In the first year I worked with her, she called in sick 9 times. I don't mean 9 random days, I mean she would call in on a Tuesday and predict sickness until the following week. She was freelance at the school and didn't get paid if she didn't come in. That's fair enough but I was full-time with a 22-hour teaching week plus admin and had to cover her classes when she didn't turn up. She once admitted that the only attraction for her of working a full-time job would be the paid sick-leave. Now, I have to ask, how would it be fair for someone to be paid to lie at home while the colleagues who are invariably stressed out having to cover for said sick person receive no compensation and little thanks for the extra work? In the five years I worked at the school, I don't remember any of my Japanese colleagues taking a single day off sick. Of course there was plenty of coughing and sneezing in the staff room in the winter and hot lemon drinks on tap between classes but there was a job to be done.

Now I'm not saying anyone should be penalised in any way for being sick, I'm just saying you shouldn't be rewarded for it either. As for those who say it is unfair to come in sick and infect others in the workplace, I agree but basic hygiene (not coughing or spluttering over colleagues where possible, washing hands after blowing nose, etc) goes a long way in avoiding cross-infection. I'm sure that the colds I did catch during my time at the school were more likely to have been passed on to me in the crowded trains during my hourly commute to work. Can you imagine how many germs are on those strap things? I would also say this: you're a teacher, you come into daily contact with hundreds of warm bodies in a confined space and of course you are at high risk of catching colds and other illnesses. If you are, on top of this, the type who thinks they are gasping their last every time they catch a cold, maybe this profession isn't for you.

As for expecting to be paid to stay in bed because of a heavy night's boozing the night before, get a grip! And that's where the abuse starts. Yamanote Senbei says, "Doctor's notes are very easy and inexpensive to obtain" and that's exactly right. Go to a doctor, tell him you feel a bit off and if it will get you out the door again, he's more than likely to give you a note. I sympathise with the genuinely ill, I really do, but a system of paid sick leave is wide open to serious abuse. Why would any employer want to pay for work not done?

yamanote senbei · Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 435

An employer is also legally required to provide health insurance, which make obtaining doctor's notes simple and inexpensive. For longer periods of illness, proper health insurance also covers you for lost wages.

The problem is that for most foreign workers in Japan, their employer doesn't provide them with proper health insurance.

SEndrigo · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 437

Hey markle,

no need to take the "these people" comment personally, I didn't mean it in a derogatory way.

I have so far received great treatment here in Japan, all I'm saying is, there are different standards for you as a foreigner and in some cases, different laws.

I was just saying people shouldn't try so hard to fit in. Being different is good!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Brooks · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1369 Location: Sagamihara

It seems that I am sick on the weekends or right when vacations start.
I have left school early when sick generally, but after I taught my classes.

It would be nice if there were substitute teachers here, but there aren`t.
Some people use up all of their sick days and some take advantage of the system.
I worked with one teacher who decided to go to immigration one day without telling anyone and I got a call from him saying he would be absent for the whole day. I had to teach so the other teacher had to cover for him. Really annoying.